GPWEEK OPINION
>>
Time To Get Better
was the class of the field. This year they started
with a world beater, albeit a (typically) fragile
one, and any suggestions that McLaren had
overtaken them in development were crushed
with Sebastian Vettel's peerless victory a week
ago in Valencia.
July 11 is highlighted on the workshop
calendar not because the British Grand Prix is
RBR's home race (shhh don't tell Mr Mateschitz),
but because Silverstone is custom designed for
the RB6's talents. It doesn't just like fast corners,
it covers them in baby oil and dry humps them.
They should be very wary indeed about
this forthcoming McLaren upgrade, however,
which promises to give the MP4-25 similar
abilities. With Button and Hamilton showing
outstanding consistency in the last three races,
and the Woking lot beginning to pull away
in the constructors' championship, it looks a
little bit like they could 'kidnap' this title from
Red Bull, who would be leading were it not for
breakdowns and self-inflicted mega-crashes.
Newey can't gun down the aggressors. That
kind of thing is frowned upon! So he's just
going to have to get back to the drawing board,
not get distracted by the new motor on the
driveway, and sketch out a few more genius
ideas that are going to see Vettel and Webber
push the McLaren boys off the podium.
er Arrow through the heart
Repsol team; and Yamaha, where top
management is directly involved with the
racing effort.
The Suzuki team also has a core of
factory men, and boy do they work at
it. But the level of resources available is
clearly far short of its MotoGP factory rivals.
So too, it seems, is the extra motivation
that would come from management less
satisfied with mediocre results.
It's been like this for years, yet Suzuki
managed a sort of seven-year cycle
where it would take the championship.
Then you look at the names. Well, the
last one was Kenny Roberts Junior, in
2000: a clinical rider who played the
percentages and did what was necessary
against some moderate competition.
But the one before was Kevin Schwantz.
His Suzuki was never the best bike on the
track; but his inspirational riding dragged
the bike, the team and the factory to the
top of the results sheets. Not just in 1993,
but for several years before he finally won
the crown.
The next one was due in 2007. And
in fact it was a bit of a good year: John
Hopkins was fourth in that first 800cc
season, team-mate Chris Vermeulen
sixth. A big improvement on (say) 2003 --
Hopkins and Roberts 17th and 19th, or
the next year -- 16th and 18th.
For the past three years the team
has relied on the veteran skills of Loris
Capirossi to guide them out of the slough
of despond. But there are signs that the
job has been wearing him down -- too
many bad results and broken promises.
Enter Alvaro Bautista, now free from
injury -- his speed and commitment at
Barcelona were a major boost.
It's a hard call to say he's the next Kevin
Schwantz, but it will be interesting to see
if he is rider enough to revitalise Suzuki
once again.
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